NYPL Blogs: Posts by Matt Knutzen/blog/author/37
enOpen Access Maps at NYPLhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2014/03/28/open-access-maps
Matt Knutzen<p><a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c6da6d9e-4b37-b1c0-e040-e00a18060bfb">The Lionel Pincus &amp; Princess Firyal Map Division</a> is very proud to announce the release of more than 20,000 cartographic works as high resolution downloads. We believe these maps have no known US copyright restrictions.* To the extent that some jurisdictions grant NYPL an additional copyright in the digital reproductions of these maps, NYPL is distributing these images under a <strong><a href="http://creativecommons.org/about/cc0" rel="nofollow">Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication</a></strong>. The maps can be viewed through the New York Public Library’s <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5BphysicalLocation_mtxt_s%5D%5B%5D=Map+Division&amp;keywords=&amp;sort=dateDigitized_dt+desc">Digital Collections page</a>, and downloaded (!), through the <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/">Map Warper</a>. First, <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/users/new">create an account</a>, then click a map title and go. Here’s a <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/02/03/drawing-past-enlivening-study-historical-geography-mapsnyplorg">primer</a> and <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/10/unbinding-atlas-working-digital-maps">more extended blog post on the warper</a></p>
<div class="digcol-image align-center align-center">
<figure class="caption caption caption digcol-image"><a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c6da6d9e-4b37-b1c0-e040-e00a18060bfb"><img alt=" 4068533" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=4068533&amp;t=w" width="100%" /></a>
<figcaption class="digcol-caption">Plan of Bay Ridge Parkway, Olmsted, Olmsted &amp; Eliot Landscape Architects, 1895. Image ID: 4068533</figcaption></figure></div>
<h2>What’s this all mean?</h2>
<p>It means <strong>you</strong> <strong>can have the maps, all of them if you want, for free, in high resolution.</strong> We’ve scanned them to enable their use in the broadest possible ways by the largest number of people.</p>
<p>Though not required, if you’d like to credit the New York Public Library, please use the following text "From The Lionel Pincus &amp; Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library.” Doing so helps us track what happens when we release collections like this to the public for free under really relaxed and open terms. We believe our collections inspire all kinds of creativity, innovation and discovery, things the NYPL holds very dear.</p>
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<figure class="caption caption caption digcol-image"><a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/fc8b9560-f3a1-0130-679f-58d385a7b928"><img alt=" 5056960" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=5056960&amp;t=w" width="100%" /></a>
<figcaption class="digcol-caption">Sanitary and social chart of the Fourth Ward of the City of New York, to accompany a report of the 4th Sanitary Inspection District. 1864. Image ID: 5056960</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>A little background on how we got here… We’ve been scanning maps for about 15 years, both as part of the NYPL’s general work but mostly through grant funded projects like the 2001 <a href="http://www.neh.gov/" rel="nofollow">National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)</a> funded <a href="http://web-static.nypl.org/exhibitions/midatlantic/">American Shores: Maps of the MidAtlantic to 1850</a>, the 2004 <a href="http://www.imls.gov/" rel="nofollow">Institute of Museum and Library Services (</a><a href="http://www.imls.gov/" rel="nofollow">IMLS)</a> funded <a href="http://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/uccgia_papers/2/" rel="nofollow">Building a Globally Distributed Historical Sheet Map Set </a>and the 2010 NEH funded <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/13/nyc-historical-gis-project">New York City Historical GIS</a>.</p>
<p>Through these projects, we’ve built up a great collection of: 1,100 maps of the Mid-Atlantic United States and cities from the 16th to 19th centuries, mostly drawn from the <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5BrootCollection_rootCollectionUUID_s%5D%5B%5D=Lawrence+H.+Slaughter+Collection+of+English+maps%2C+charts%2C+globes%2C+books+and+atlases%7C%7C6a373d50-c5d3-012f-a6fb-58d385a7bc34&amp;keywords=slaughter+collection#/?scroll=0">Lawrence H. Slaughter Collection</a>; a detailed collection of more than 700 <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5BnamePart_mtxt_s%5D%5B%5D=Austro-Hungarian%20Monarchy.%20Milit%C3%A4rgeographisches%20Institut.&amp;keywords=&amp;layout=false">topographic maps of the Austro-Hungarian empire</a> created between 1877 and 1914; a collection of 2,800 maps from <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5BrootCollection_rootCollectionUUID_s%5D%5B%5D=Atlases+of+the+United+States%7C%7C2600a3f0-c5ec-012f-424e-58d385a7bc34&amp;keywords=county+atlas&amp;layout=false#/?scroll=0">state, county and city atlases</a> (mostly New York and New Jersey); a huge collection of more than <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5BrootCollection_rootCollectionUUID_s%5D%5B%5D=Atlases+of+New+York+city.%7C%7Cde1dcfb0-c5f6-012f-1dfc-58d385a7bc34&amp;keywords=atlases+of+new+york+city&amp;sort=keyDate_st+asc#/?scroll=0">10,300 maps from property, zoning, topographic, but mostly fire insurance atlases of New York City dating from 1852 to 1922</a>; and an incredibly diverse collection of <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?filters%5Btitle_uuid_s%5D%5B%5D=New%20York%20City%7C%7C6cea9e80-c5aa-012f-63d6-58d385a7bc34&amp;keywords=&amp;layout=false">more than 1,000 maps of New York City, its boroughs and neighborhoods</a>, dating from 1660 to 1922, which detail transportation, vice, real estate development, urban renewal, industrial development and pollution, political geography among many, many other things.</p>
<p>We in the Map Division are all very excited about this release and look forward to seeing these maps in works of art, historical publications, movies, archaeological reports, novels, environmental remediation efforts, urban planning studies and more… Enjoy!</p>
<p>*The maps may be subject to rights of privacy, rights of publicity and other restrictions. It is your responsibility to make sure that you respect these rights.</p>
Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2014/03/28/open-access-maps#commentsFri, 28 Mar 2014 12:44:16 -0400The New York City Historical GIS Projecthttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/13/nyc-historical-gis-project
Matt Knutzen<p>In 2010, the <a href="http://www.neh.gov/" rel="nofollow">National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)</a> awarded <a href="http://www.nypl.org/">The New York Public Library</a>'s <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division">Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division</a> a three-year grant for its <a href="http://www.neh.gov/files/grants/new_york_public_library_historical_geographic_information_systems.pdf" rel="nofollow">New York City Historical Geographic Information Systems project</a>, which builds digital cartographic resources from NYPL's historical paper map and atlas collections.</p>
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<p>The project walks a portion of NYPL's New York City map collections through a series of workflow steps outlined in a previous blog post, <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/10/unbinding-atlas-working-digital-maps">Unbinding the Atlas</a>. In a nutshell, maps are <strong>scanned</strong> (shooting a high resolution digital image), <strong>georectified</strong> (a.k.a. warped, rubber-sheeted, i.e. aligning pixels on an old map to latitude/longitude on a virtual map), <strong>cropped</strong> (removing extraneous non-map information from the collar area around a map), and <strong>digitized</strong> (think of this as tracing).</p>
<p><span class="inline inline"><a title="Insurance Maps of Brooklyn New York Sanborn Perris map co. 113 Broadway, New York. Volume &quot;B&quot; 1895., Digital ID 1808871, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1808871"><img width="300" height="221" title="Insurance Maps of Brooklyn New York Sanborn Perris map co. 113 Broadway, New York. Volume &quot;B&quot; 1895., Digital ID 1808871, New York Public Library" alt="Insurance Maps of Brooklyn New York Sanborn Perris map co. 113 Broadway, New York. Volume &quot;B&quot; 1895., Digital ID 1808871, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1808871&amp;t=w" /></a></span>In the proposal, we committed to scanning 9,000 maps, but we were ultimately funded to image approximately 7,200 maps. Work has proceeded much faster than anticipated, however, enabling us to scan and mount 7,799 new maps so far. An additional 9,327 metadata records have been created for related collections, such as all of New York City’s zoning maps (a bibliography can be found at the bottom of <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2007/09/07/new-york-city-zoning-maps">this great post</a>, or <a href="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/NYCzoningbib.doc" rel="nofollow">in this .doc file</a>) dating to 1916; most of our public domain fire insurance atlases of areas outside of the city in New York and New Jersey; and our entire run of historical and contemporary New York state topographic maps. If the pace of imaging continues as expected, the project will have funded the digitization of 17,126 historical maps, most of which are concentrated on the five boroughs, but with significant coverage of upstate New York and New Jersey. The scanned maps can be found in a number of places, starting with the Library's <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgtitle_tree.cfm?level=1&amp;title_id=1013612">Digital Gallery</a>. We've also put together a <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division/fire-insurance-topographic-zoning-property-maps-nyc">collection guide</a>. One of the richest veins of recently-imaged content — over 5,000 of our most detailed maps produced by the Sanborn Map Company — can also be found in the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgtitle_tree.cfm?title_id=1926663&amp;level=2&amp;tword=">Digital Gallery</a>. A favorite example is the atlas, whose gorgeous and graphically-complex index page, above left, shows a Brooklyn that has yet to fill in the scaffold of projected urban grid. A pleasant discovery in this was plate 175, below right, documenting what must be one of the only elephant-shaped buildings in the world — in this case an elephant bazaar, which once occupied the area on the north side of Surf Avenue, across from the Cyclone. (Explore the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?801320">elephant</a> and the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?801272">elephant bazaar</a> &gt;&gt;)</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-right inline-right"><a title="Brooklyn Vol. B Plate No. 175 [Map bounded by Stillwell Ave., Overton Place, W. 10th St.], Digital ID 1808916, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1808916"><img width="209" height="300" title="Brooklyn Vol. B Plate No. 175 [Map bounded by Stillwell Ave., Overton Place, W. 10th St.], Digital ID 1808916, New York Public Library" alt="Brooklyn Vol. B Plate No. 175 [Map bounded by Stillwell Ave., Overton Place, W. 10th St.], Digital ID 1808916, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1808916&amp;t=w" /></a></span></p>
<p>Once the maps are scanned, they are available for georectification, which happens using our web-based toolkit at <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/">maps.nypl.org</a>. If you're interested in learning how to georectify maps, you're welcome to participate in this project. The home page includes a how-to instruction video, along with a more involved <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B88pdtzJTtIVNzc5NjE3MmItYjY4Mi00NjM2LThmNTMtYmIxZGRjMGZiMzM3" rel="nofollow">instruction sheet</a>. There are also instructions on map cropping, a necessary step in the creation of map mosaics. We're also thrilled that our friend Liz Barry at the Parsons School of Design's <a href="http://publiclaboratory.org/" rel="nofollow">Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science</a> has published this <a href="http://awhereness.org/dmud2012/2012/02/01/new-york-public-library-map-warper/" rel="nofollow">excellent instruction</a> as part of her syllabus. If you'd like to take your work a step further and know a thing or two about Geographic Information Systems (GIS), you can follow her instructions for using maps from <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/">maps.nypl.org</a> in <a href="http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/index.html" rel="nofollow">ArcGIS</a>, the industry standard GIS software. We've made great progress in georectifying NYC maps, warping about <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/885">2,400 sheets</a> from some 162 atlases in total.</p>
<p>The image below shows some of the resulting georectified map layers from the project, including William Perris's <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/859"><em>Maps of the City of New York</em></a>, 1857-1862; G.W. Bromley’s <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/870"><em>Atlas of the city of New York, Borough of Queens</em></a>,… 1909; the Bronx Topographical Survey’s <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/886">Topographic Survey and New Street System of the Borough of the Bronx…</a>; G.M. Hopkins’s <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/886">Detailed Estate and Old Farm Line Atlas of the City of Brooklyn</a>, 1880; and G.W. Bromley’s <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/1035">Atlas of the City of New York, Borough of Richmond, Staten Island</a>, 1917.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><a href="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/warped_maps_0.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/warped_maps_0.inline vertical.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="225" /></a></span></p>
<p>If you love map georectification, it's likely you'll also love map tracing. This is, as I pointed out <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/10/unbinding-atlas-working-digital-maps">in a previous post</a>, where the proverbial rubber meets the road in terms of working with historical maps. If map warping is preparing pixels of digital images of old maps to relate to one another geospatially, map tracing is preparing machine readable data to be harvested, mined, analyzed, mashed, made a part of the semantic web, and related to itself, across time. We've created a <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B88pdtzJTtIVY2U2ZmE3ZWUtNDNmYi00YzM4LWFlOTktMjA0N2U4ZGI4M2Qz" rel="nofollow">handy guide</a> to map tracing, if you're inclined to help us build this valuable resource. This type of data will eventually allow you to ask your phone a question, such as, "I'm standing in front of the Coney Island <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island_Cyclone" rel="nofollow">Cyclone</a>. What other attractions would I see if I was here 100 years ago?" Ideally, you'd be presented with a reasonable answer, such as, "On the other side of the street, you'd see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantine_Colossus" rel="nofollow">colossal elephant bazaar</a> that stood from 1885 to 1896," etc. And you might just see images like the items highlighted below.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-right inline-right"><a title="The Colossal Elephant Of Coney Island., Digital ID 801320, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?801320"><img width="279" height="300" title="The Colossal Elephant Of Coney Island., Digital ID 801320, New York Public Library" alt="The Colossal Elephant Of Coney Island., Digital ID 801320, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=801320&amp;t=w" /></a><span class="caption caption caption"> </span></span></p>
<p>The last part of the NYC Historical GIS project is tracing, and we've done quite a bit of it through our own efforts, through partnerships with local colleges and through our<a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/36/node/167604?lref=36%2Fcalendar"> Citizen Cartography workshop series</a>. At the bottom of this post are some of the resulting datasets that require a bit of explanation. The large majority of maps we're working with in this project are called fire insurance maps. They were designed to give insurance adjusters a reasonable metric by which to assign fire insurance values to buildings. They did so by documenting, among many other things, each building structure's street address, construction materials (e.g. wood, brick, etc.), the property's height (in stories), and the location of fire hydrants, as well as the general locations and width of water mains (to gauge available water pressure levels at each hydrant location). The goal of the project is to trace from a series of atlases all of the buildings' spatial footprints and transcribe all of the accompanying feature data. The "why" is explained at length in <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/10/unbinding-atlas-working-digital-maps">my earlier post</a>.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><a title="[Volume 1 Index Map], Digital ID 1268409, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1268409"><img width="300" height="225" title="[Volume 1 Index Map], Digital ID 1268409, New York Public Library" alt="[Volume 1 Index Map], Digital ID 1268409, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1268409&amp;t=w" /></a></span>The short explanation is that, while these types of maps are no longer used for fire insurance, they find continued relevance among our readers and, in truth, among any number of users along a spectrum of popular and scholarly domains. Realistically, anybody doing a bit of historical and geographic detective work can find these maps and their contents useful. And having this data as searchable (i.e. machine readable) information both breathes new life into these wonderful historical documents and enables their use in a wider, linked-data universe.</p>
<p>The three images below show a set of building footprint data derived from William Perris's first edition <em><a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/861">Maps of the City of New York</a>, </em>published in a 98 sheet, seven volume series between 1852-1854. The data was traced at <a href="http://maps.nypl.org ">maps.nypl.org</a>, cleaned up using what are called <a href="http://gskinner.com/RegExr/" rel="nofollow">regular expressions</a> and a tool called <a href="http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/" rel="nofollow">Google Refine</a>. The resulting data was then loaded into Google Fusion tables, where it was stylized. The image below (at top) shows the map data from the Perris atlas colored based on the attributes in the "material type" field. The image below (center) is of exact same data, but filtered to only show buildings that are Mixed Use (residential and commercial), those places where small business people — sole proprietors — lived, either in a back apartment or upstairs, and ran some sort of business from home. The image below (at bottom) is again the same data, but filtered again to show only Mixed Use buildings that are also framed (wooden). This type of filtering and potential for analysis of building data is a powerful means to explore and understand the historical city and is really at the core of the NYC Historical GIS project. Taking a step back, this type of methodology, i.e. moving paper, analog collections from the material to the digital world and making them machine readable, queriable, linkable, and generally more intelligent and more than the sum of their parts, is at the core of much of the exciting work being done by <a href="http://www.nypl.org/collections/labs">NYPL Labs</a>, on the web (the <a href="http://books.google.com/ngrams" rel="nofollow">Google Books Ngram Viewer</a>, for example), and in the wider world of the digital scholarship.</p>
<p>So, if you're interested in learning more, please come to NYPL's <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division">Map Division</a> or join us for a <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/36/node/167604?lref=36%2Fcalendar">Citizen Cartography workshop</a>.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><a href="https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S539229bOlf" rel="nofollow"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/screen_shot_2012-06-12_at_2.35.36_pm.img_assist_custom.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-img_assist_custom" width="539" height="329" /></a></span><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><a href="https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S539233oCzA" rel="nofollow"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/screen_shot_2012-06-12_at_2.39.12_pm.img_assist_custom.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-img_assist_custom" width="540" height="326" /></a></span></p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><a href="https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S539244A6fk" rel="nofollow"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/screen_shot_2012-06-12_at_2.50.16_pm.img_assist_custom.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-img_assist_custom" width="539" height="326" /></a></span></p>Urban Affairshttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/13/nyc-historical-gis-project#commentsWed, 13 Jun 2012 16:39:55 -0400Unbinding the Atlas: Working with Digital Mapshttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/10/unbinding-atlas-working-digital-maps
Matt Knutzen<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><a title="Insurance Maps of the Borough of Richmond, city of New York. Published by the Sanborn Map Co. 115, Broadway, New York. 1898., Digital ID 1957219, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1957219"><img width="253" height="300" alt="Insurance Maps of the Borough of Richmond, city of New York. Published by the Sanborn Map Co. 115, Broadway, New York. 1898., Digital ID 1957219, New York Public Library" title="Insurance Maps of the Borough of Richmond, city of New York. Published by the Sanborn Map Co. 115, Broadway, New York. 1898., Digital ID 1957219, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1957219&amp;t=w" /></a></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nypl.org/">NYPL</a> has now scanned nearly all of its public domain <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division/fire-insurance-topographic-zoning-property-maps-nyc">New York City atlases</a> (a collection of now more than 10,000 maps, the wonderfully graphical title page at left is from a recently scanned <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?trg=1&amp;parent_id=1925766">Sanborn atlas of Staten Island</a>) and built a <a href="http://maps.nypl.org">web tool</a> (<a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/02/03/drawing-past-enlivening-study-historical-geography-mapsnyplorg">blog post announcement</a>) where users both inside and outside the Library can virtually stretch old maps onto a digital model of the world à la <a href="http://maps.google.com/" rel="nofollow">Google Maps</a> or <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/" rel="nofollow">OpenStreetMap</a>, thus creating a new copy that is not only aligned with spatial coordinates on the Earth, but normalized across the entire archive of old maps. And once we’ve done that, we can walk this digital spatial object through a workflow, adding useful information and context with each step. All of this is done collaboratively, through the piecemeal efforts of staff, volunteers, and interns, a group of roughly 1,500 participants worldwide. </p>
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<p>It’s helpful to think of this type of work in terms of moving or changing contexts. A book is a linear intellectual object that has a particularly bibliographic context… a start, a sequence of pages, and an end. An atlas is a type of book within this framework that also has geographic and spatial contexts, that is, its pages have a frame of reference (earth) and therefore relate to one another spatially, through adjacency, proximity, scale, and coverage area. In the process of aligning old maps, we’re rearranging the atlas, transforming it from a linear, bibliographic object into one that is more true to its spatial nature. Below is a sketch outline of the processes we perform on maps to recontextualize them as spatial digital objects.</p>
<h2>Map Warping<strong><span class="inline inline inline-right inline-right"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2011-12-22_at_11.56.33_am.inline vertical.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="279" /></span></strong></h2>
<p>Imagine we’ve taken a photograph of a map. By simply looking at that map, we can access our own geographic knowledge base, through visually scanning its shapes, curves, and contours, by reading the title, or by decoding the various symbols that appear throughout. When we make a digital image of a map, there is nothing inherently geographic about it. It, like a photograph of a person or building, is a mass of pixels of varying color. A computer cannot presently look at pixels on a map and divine its geographic locale. This is where map warping comes into the picture. Using the tool we’ve created at <a href="http://maps.nypl.org">maps.nypl.org</a>, we enable users to geolocate pixels on a map. By inserting a virtual pushpin on the pixels that represent a location (e.g. Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street) and then inserting a virtual pushpin on that same <em>geographic location</em>, but on a digital map (e.g. Google Maps), we create a relationship between pixel space of the image of a map and the geographic space of a digital model of the earth. Once we’ve compiled a series of these pushpin equivalencies (three at the very least), we can create a new derivative work from the original digital photograph of a map, one that is spatially aware from the perspective of a computer. The image at right is <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=17760&amp;s=1&amp;notword=&amp;f=13&amp;sScope=Name&amp;sLabel=Montr%C3%A9sor%2C%20John&amp;cols=4">John Montrésor</a>'s 1775 <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?433990">A Plan of the city of New-York</a>, </em>originally surveyed 1766, in the foment of pre-revolutionary America, undergoing the warping process, with color coded virtual pushpins tying <em>pixel</em> to <em>geographical</em> space.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2012-01-04_at_11.12.28_am.inline vertical.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="300" /></span>This makes it possible to create really cool visualizations and map overlays (see Montrésor's map, at left) in applications like <a href="http://www.google.com/earth/index.html" rel="nofollow">Google Earth</a> (<a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/maps/12949.kml">Montrésor's map</a> for those who have GE installed) and more importantly, to create visual spatial histories of your locale of interest. We can also easily compare maps of the same place that might not be at the same scale, might not have the same title, or might be from atlases where the page schemas are completely at odds with one another. All of these issues, bound so to speak in earlier bookish iterations (as atlases), are mitigated through this process.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-right inline-right"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2011-12-21_at_12.40.37_pm.inline vertical.png" alt="Bromley&#039;s Atlas of the Borough of Queens" title="Bromley&#039;s Atlas of the Borough of Queens" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="281" /><span class="caption caption caption" style="border:1px solid #000000">Bromley's Atlas of the Borough of Queens</span></span></p>
<h2>Map Cropping</h2>
<p>Map warping further allows us to create new mosaic-like copies of larger works, like this fire insurance atlas published by <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=772963&amp;word=">G. W. Bromley in 1909</a>, seen at right with its <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/870">47 map sheets as a unified whole</a>. Before creating a composite image we need to crop away all of the extraneous marginalia, that is, the non-cartographic information that usually frames a map. Maps can be cropped individually and, if part of an atlas, viewed together with their adjacent neighbor maps. Think of cropping as like applying a map-coverage-area shaped cookie cutter to rolled out map dough, then resizing and assembling those pieces into a unified whole. Here's a handy guide to help walk you through <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B88pdtzJTtIVNzc5NjE3MmItYjY4Mi00NjM2LThmNTMtYmIxZGRjMGZiMzM3" rel="nofollow">Map Warping and Cropping</a>.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/screen_shot_2012-01-04_at_3.31.11_pm.inline vertical.png" alt="Warped, Cropped &amp;amp; Traced Manhattan map" title="Warped, Cropped &amp;amp; Traced Manhattan map" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="263" /><span class="caption caption caption" style="border:1px solid #000000">Warped, Cropped &amp; Traced Manhattan map</span></span></p>
<h2>Map Tracing</h2>
<p>Once we’ve warped a map or warped and cropped an atlas, we can proceed to tracing. This is the final step necessary in transforming printed cartographic materials, maps, and atlases, into machine-readable data. For those whose eyes just glazed over, here it is put another way. This is the final step necessary in creating the means to build a time machine. Remember in the Matrix, how everything we know and see is a simulation created from digital information? Well, what if these maps and all the information on them are the building blocks of an arguably less insidious, historical and spatial research environment to be woven together with documents from the past? We believe they are, but we need to first harvest all of their information through tracing. The map at left is a composite image taken from <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=22675&amp;s=1&amp;notword=&amp;f=13&amp;sScope=Name&amp;sLabel=Perris%2C%20William&amp;cols=4">William Perris</a>' 1852 <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=673647&amp;word=perris&amp;s=1&amp;notword=&amp;d=&amp;c=&amp;f=&amp;k=4&amp;lWord=&amp;lField=&amp;sScope=&amp;sLevel=&amp;sLabel=&amp;snum=120&amp;imgs=60">Maps of the City of New York</a> </em>and is the first to comprehensively detail the built environment of Manhattan. This particular section shows where the Brooklyn Bridge would eventually attach to Manhattan and those buildings, both their spatial geometries and their attributes (e.g. street names and addresses), that would be removed for the bridge construction. Here's a guide to help walk you through <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B88pdtzJTtIVY2U2ZmE3ZWUtNDNmYi00YzM4LWFlOTktMjA0N2U4ZGI4M2Qz" rel="nofollow">Map Tracing</a>.</p>
<h2>Implications and Ramifications</h2>
<p>So, what does this all mean? If we have documents related to past times and past places (old maps), then we can create data to “rebuild” those past times and past places. And if we “rebuild” old places in virtual space, we can then organize a universe of other information around those old places. Wouldn’t it be great to have <a href="http://yelp.com" rel="nofollow">yelp.com</a> and <a href="http://www.menupages.com/" rel="nofollow">menupages.com</a>, but for old restaurants and with <a href="http://menus.nypl.org/">old menus and prices</a>? Or to have at least a smattering of <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgtitle_tree.cfm?level=1&amp;title_id=359206">old photos</a> in a historical street view? Or to search the <a href="http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/" rel="nofollow">National Newspaper Digitization Project</a> using a map interface? At the core of all of these dream-like research futures is geographic information, in machine-readable format. And to get there, we need to warp, crop, mosaic, and trace our old maps. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing. And as a positive byproduct, the maps just so happen to become more useful at each step along the way.</p>
<p>So if you’re interested in participating in this long-term, collaborative research project, one that accretes little bits of new information to a collectively held historical knowledge base, free and open to all… let us know, or start in on it now by creating an account at <a href="http://maps.nypl.org">maps.nypl.org</a>. Here again are the instructions for <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B88pdtzJTtIVNzc5NjE3MmItYjY4Mi00NjM2LThmNTMtYmIxZGRjMGZiMzM3" rel="nofollow">Map Warping and Cropping</a> and <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B88pdtzJTtIVY2U2ZmE3ZWUtNDNmYi00YzM4LWFlOTktMjA0N2U4ZGI4M2Qz" rel="nofollow">Map Tracing</a>. Stay tuned for the next post, where we'll talk about some of the projects that use these tools, including the NYPL's own <em><a href="http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/HCRRsamples/NYPL_GIS.pdf" rel="nofollow">New York City Historical GIS Project</a></em>, a grant funded by <a href="http://www.neh.gov/" rel="nofollow">The National Endowment for the Humanities</a>.</p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/01/10/unbinding-atlas-working-digital-maps#commentsTue, 10 Jan 2012 08:08:58 -0500Elements of Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/01/06/elements-cartography
Matt Knutzen<p><span class="inline inline inline-right inline-right"><a title="Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio., Digital ID 465007, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?465007"><img alt="Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio., Digital ID 465007, New York Public Library" width="300" height="219" title="Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio., Digital ID 465007, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=465007&amp;t=w" /></a></span>The title of this post comes from an important textbook that every formally trained student of cartography will recognize. <a href="https://catalog.nypl.org/search/aRobinson,+Arthur+Howard,+1915-">Arthur Robinson</a> (1915-2004), a towering figure in the world of cartography and geography, first published <em><a href="https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b12045675~S1">Elements of Cartography</a></em> in 1953. Now in it sixth edition, <em>Elements </em>remains an essential teaching tool in both cartographic literacy and the basics of mapmaking.</p>
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<p>In <em>Elements</em>, the reader is reminded that every map should have a set of common features (elements) aside from the geographic information that delineate the landscape.</p>
<p>And while the book is about making <em>new </em>maps, the elements of cartography, as they are etched, engraved, printed, hand-colored, cataloged, digitized and presented on <em>old </em>maps in our <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org">Digital Gallery</a>, and in our new web map toolkit <a href="http://maps.nypl.org">maps.nypl.org</a>, and outlined and illustrated below, can be a source of enormous inspiration, stirring the creative juices of not only cartographers, but visual artists, designers, historians, sociologists, anthropologists and more...</p>
<p>Dive in further at the Library's <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division">Map Division</a>.</p>
<h4>Compass Rose</h4>
<p>The <em>compass rose</em> tells us which way is north (not all maps orient north at top as with the image below from the Map of New England Captain John Smith's 1627<a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?415108"> The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles</a> ... </p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/smith1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<h4>Scalebar</h4>
<p>The <em>scalebar</em> tells us what a given unit of measurement (inch, cm etc...) indicates when applied to the map (miles, km, etc...) The scalebar on the map below, Lord Baltimore's 1635 <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434431">Noua Terrae-Mariae tabula</a></em>, indicates its map units as "Sea Leagues". </p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/baltimore1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<h4>Representative Fraction</h4>
<p>The <em>representative fraction</em>, e.g. 1/62,500 tells us that one unit (any unit) of measurement equals, in this example, 62,500 of that same unit on the planet earth. The map below, titled <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1693732">Mount Marcy</a></em>, was first published by the U.S. Geological Survey sometime in the 1880's and reprinted in 1912. This map is a quadrangle map, indicating it covers 1/4 of a degree on the planet earth. </p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/usgs.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<h4>Cartouche</h4>
<p>The <em>cartouche</em> frames out a titleblock and publisher’s information and often contain really interesting expositions related to the publication of the map, complete with the appropriate genuflecting to a king or God. The cartouche below is from John Speed's <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?465247">America with those known parts in that unknowne worlde</a>... </em>published in 1627. The scrolly shape in this example gives an indication of origins of the word cartouche, which is French for cartridge, as in bullet. Before the invention of metal or plastic casings, the cartridge was made a rolled paper package fulled with gunpowder and lead shot. Apparently, the scrolls looked like cartouches, hence the name.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/blaeu1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<h4>Neatline</h4>
<p>The <em>neatline</em> frames the area of geographic coverage on the map (in this case Virginia) and is sometimes coupled with a grid that is keyed either to an index or to the graticule (lines of latitude and longitude). In the cartouche tucked up against the neatline below, naked baby angels called "puttis" hold aloft a curtain with the title <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434437"><em>Nova Virginiae Tabula</em></a> on this 1671 map, originally commissioned by John Smith.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/smith6.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<h4>Legend</h4>
<p>The <em>legend</em> unpacks the meaning of the symbols used to depict different types of information on the map such as cities, mountains, roads etc... The legend below, from J.H. Young's <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434620">New Jersey</a></em>, published in 1839 indicates symbology for both the latest innovations transportation, from canals to railroads, to tried and true "common" and stage roads.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/coltonnj.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<h4>Whimsy</h4>
<p>And finally, in addition to those standard cartographic elements, we have fun things appearing here an there, as if by magic, like sea dragons, and warring ships, angelic cartographers, historic and allegorical figures. These things allude, often in modern and self conscious fashion, to the makers of the maps, or the the wider geopolitical zeitgeist, and in some cases to the cosmographical order of things in the universe.</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?483701">Homann, Regni Mexicani... 1759-1784</a>:</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/homann2.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?465247">John Speed's <em>America...</em>1671</a>:</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/blaeu2.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<p>Again, <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?465247">John Speed's <em>America...</em> 1671</a>:</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/blaeu10.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<p>Again, <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?483701">Homann, <em>Regni Mexicani...</em> 1759-1784</a>:</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/homann1.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434538">Hondius, <em>Virginiae item et Floridae Americae</em>... 1636</a>:</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/hondius8.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?465007">Ortelius,<em> Americae sive novi orbis</em>...1573</a>:</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/ortelius.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="420" height="400" /></span></p>
<p>Hopefully, you can draw some inspiration from these Elements of Cartography!</p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/01/06/elements-cartography#commentsThu, 06 Jan 2011 15:30:37 -0500Drawing on the Past: Enlivening the Study of Historical Geography at maps.nypl.orghttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/02/03/drawing-past-enlivening-study-historical-geography-mapsnyplorg
Matt Knutzen<p>On behalf of <a href="http://nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division">The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division</a>, the NYPL’s Director of Digital Strategy and Scholarship and our partners EntropyFree LLC, I am proud to announce the launch of <a href="http://maps.nypl.org">maps.nypl.org</a></p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-none"><a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/mapsnyplorg.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="500" height="266" /></a></span></p>
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<p>This new website is a parallel snapshot of all maps currently available on the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org">Digital Gallery </a>as well as a powerful set of tools designed to significantly enhance the way we access and use maps and the cartographic information they contain.</p>
<p>The first such enhancement is in how historic maps are viewed. The user interface of maps.nypl.org allows zooming and panning in a way that has come to be expected by users of web maps (<a href="http://maps.google.com" rel="nofollow">Google Maps</a>, <a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/" rel="nofollow">Bing Maps</a> etc...)<br /><br />
The next is georectification, which we are calling here “warping”, a familiar term to GIS professionals and few others. Map “warping” is the process where digital images of maps are stretched, placing the maps themselves into their geographic context, rendered either on the website or with tools such as Google Earth.<br /><br />
Illustrated here is the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?psnypl_map_301">1915 Redraft of the 1660 Castello Plan</a> documenting early lower Manhattan, “warped” using the Map Warper and rendered in <a href="http://earth.google.com/index.html" rel="nofollow">Google Earth</a>.</p>
<p><br /><a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/mapscans/13913"><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/Castello_Plan_Web.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="500" height="500" /></span></a><br />
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<p>And below here, a set of <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/861">98 detailed sheet maps</a> of the New York City published by William Perris in the early 1850s, overlaid in Google Earth after having been “warped” and mosaicked using maps.nypl.org</p>
<p><a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/layers/861.kml"><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/Perris_WEB.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="500" height="500" /></span></a><br />
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Once historical map has been digitally “warped,” users of the Library’s digital maps can virtually “trace” features, such as cities, farm boundaries, rivers, ponds and even buildings, converting them into digital geospatial data. And that data, in turn can be easily linked to other digital information, such as building photographs, text citations or any other information that relates to the same geographic location.<br /><br />
Illustrated below is a photo of Phenix Bank at 45 Wall Street, digitally “pinned” to one of the maps in the series shown above.<br /><br /><span class="inline inline inline-left inline-left"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/Perris_Buildings_Picture_Web.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="500" height="500" /></span></p>
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<p>One of the most exciting aspects of this project is its participatory nature, meaning that anybody with a computer can create an account, log in, and begin warping and tracing maps, whether for a school or personal project or otherwise. And when the project is complete, the contribution remains in place (à la Wikipedia and <a href="http://openstreetmap.org" rel="nofollow">openstreetmap.org</a> ), adding one more piece to this new historical geographic data model.<br /><br />
I’ll blog again about some of the ways <a href="http://maps.nypl.org">maps.nypl.org</a> is already being employed by a variety of user groups. Also, follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/nyplmaps" rel="nofollow">twitter</a> for project updates and events.<br /><br />
For now, however, feel free to <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/users/new">create an account</a>, watch the how to <a href="http://maps.nypl.org/warper/">video</a>, and enjoy.</p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/02/03/drawing-past-enlivening-study-historical-geography-mapsnyplorg#commentsWed, 03 Feb 2010 16:50:12 -0500Happy Thanksgiving!https://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/11/25/happy-thanksgiving
Matt Knutzen<p>Happy Thanksgiving from <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division">The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division</a>! Come see Willem Janszoon Blaeu's <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434101">Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova</a></em> in person at the fabulous <em><a href="http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/mapping-new-yorks-shoreline-1609-2009">Mapping New York's Shoreline 1609-2009</a></em> exhibition, open today and the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving in the Gottesman Exhibition Hall located on the first floor of the <a href="/locations/schwarzman" rel="nofollow">Stephan A. Schwarzman Building</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://catalog.nypl.org/search~S1?/aBlaeu%2C+Willem+Janszoon%2C+1571-1638./ablaeu+willem+janszoon+1571+1638/-3,-1,0,B/browse">Blaeu, Willem</a> <br /><em>Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova</em> <br />
[1635?]<br /><a title=" 434101. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434101"><img title=" 434101. New York Public Library" alt=" 434101. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=434101&amp;t=r" /></a> </p>
<p>Dutch cartographers of the 17th century were eager to portray not only the mountains, lakes, rivers, coasts, cities and fortifications in the New Netherlands colony, but also the diverse biogeography of the new world, as you can see in this map, reassuring the colonial sponsors that theirs was a land of plenty, with enough beaver, bear, fox, rabbit and deer pelts to go around, <em>and</em> that there was no shortage of turkey to eat!</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/Turkey_Image_2.inline vertical.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="286" /></span></p>
<p><a href="https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b10272157">Catalog Record</a></p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?434101">Digital Gallery Image</a></p>New York Statehttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/11/25/happy-thanksgiving#commentsWed, 25 Nov 2009 12:22:15 -0500Charting the Future Ihttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/11/04/charting-future-i
Matt Knutzen<p>Over the years, as we push more and more of our <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgdivisionbrowseresult.cfm?trg=1&amp;div_id=hm">maps</a> onto the web, such as Pieter Goos' <a href="https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b13908778~S1"><em>Zee-Atlas</em></a>, 1672, from which the below image was taken, we ask… ...what do we do with all this stuff? ...how do we make digital maps meaningful?</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/1619034_posieden_maybe.img_assist_custom.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-img_assist_custom" width="419" height="399" /></span></p>
<p>One approach is through <a href="/blog_division/5217" rel="nofollow">our blog</a>, where we highlight various places and themes depicted. Often there is much more to read between the contours, about, among other things the social, geographic and cultural mix from where the maps were generated; something we, in future posts, will take the time to illuminate.</p>
<p>Another approach to extend the reach, utility and meaningfulness of our maps is through digital geographic indexing. Our staff has thus far created map indexes for close to 1/3 of our 10,000 digitized maps, which you can read about <a href="/blog/2009/02/26/mapping-nyc" rel="nofollow">here</a> and download <a href="/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/New_York_City_Fire_Insurance_Maps_0.kmz" rel="nofollow">here</a>, in effect opening an opportunity for readers to access our collections geographically.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/shipmap.img_assist_custom.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-img_assist_custom" width="419" height="399" /></span> </p>
<p>And while schematic and geographic indexes serve a much needed function, they merely point to the next logical steps in the presentation and re-purposing of map images in a web context.</p>
<p>The first step is placing the maps <em>themselves </em>(as opposed to <em>outlines </em>of the map coverages) into geographic context, or put another way, turning pictures of maps into digital geospatial information, where a pixel can be read by a computer as a pair of coordinates, as latitude and longitude.</p>
<p>These images can then, in turn, be rendered using tools such as web map servers and the ubiquitous Google Earth. The image below is Plate 1 from William Perris' <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=673647">Maps of the City of New York</a></em>, 1852, georectified and then rendered in Google Earth.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/Google3.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="500" height="463" /></span></p>
<p>Stay tuned. In my next post I'll go the details about how we "stretch" maps for web presentation. We will also explain how <em>you too</em> can participate.</p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/11/04/charting-future-i#commentsWed, 04 Nov 2009 15:22:54 -0500Mapping New York's Shoreline: The Storied Riverhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/10/16/mapping-new-yorks-shoreline-storied-river
Matt Knutzen<p>Staff of the <a href="http://nypl.org/">New York Public Library</a> recently hand picked a set of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/sets/72157622419084487" rel="nofollow">nearly 500 images</a>, collected from across our <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm">Digital Gallery</a>, composing them as a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/sets/72157622419084487" rel="nofollow">curated set of images</a> at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/commons " rel="nofollow">the Commons on Flickr</a>. They represent the Hudson River Valley through several hundred years of history and complement <a href="http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/mapping-new-yorks-shoreline-1609-2009">Mapping New York's Shoreline, 1609-2009</a>, now up in the Gottesman Exhibition Hall at the <a href="/locations/schwarzman" rel="nofollow">Stephen A. Schwarzman Building</a>.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?79500" title="Washington&#039;s Headquarters at Newburgh, N.Y., Digital ID 79500, New York Public Library"><img width="300" height="203" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=79500&amp;t=w" alt="Washington&#039;s Headquarters at Newburgh, N.Y., Digital ID 79500, New York Public Library" title="Washington&#039;s Headquarters at Newburgh, N.Y., Digital ID 79500, New York Public Library" /></a><span class="caption caption caption">Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh, N.Y., Digital ID 79500, New York Public Library</span></span>
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</p>
<p>The images depict landscape scenes in <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?col_id=361">stereoscopic vision</a>, a popular 19th century format; everyday and commemorative <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=menu">menus</a> from restaurants and catering halls; <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=Postcards&amp;s=3&amp;notword=&amp;f=2">postcards</a> of scenic places and buildings; and <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=Houses%20--%20New%20York%20%28State%29%20--%20New%20York%20--%201800-1899&amp;s=3&amp;notword=&amp;f=2">engravings of important estates</a>, prominent citizens and dramatic turning points in historical events. These images have been geocoded and are part of map-based bibliography, The Storied River, coming soon to the <a href="http://nypl.org/">NYPL</a>. Stay tuned, the launch will be posted on the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog_division/5217">NYPL's map blog</a>...</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?422590" title="Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Digital ID 422590, New York Public Library"><img width="300" height="221" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=422590&amp;t=w" alt="Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Digital ID 422590, New York Public Library" title="Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Digital ID 422590, New York Public Library" /></a><span class="caption caption caption">Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Digital ID 422590, New York Public Library</span></span>In the meantime, enjoy the same photos at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/commons " rel="nofollow">the Commons on Flickr</a>, perused as a gallery of images... <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/sets/72157622419084487/" rel="nofollow"><em>Mapping New York's Shoreline: The Storied River</em> </a> ...or, my favorite, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32951986@N05/map?fLat=42.8038&amp;fLon=-75.5494&amp;zl=12&amp;order_by=recent" rel="nofollow">pinned to a map</a> on the Flickr website.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32951986@N05/map?fLat=42.8038&amp;fLon=-75.5494&amp;zl=12&amp;order_by=recent" rel="nofollow"><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/flickr_map.inline vertical.png" alt="" title="" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" width="300" height="229" /></span></a></p>
<p>Learn more about the NYPL <a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/map-division">Map Division</a>.</p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/10/16/mapping-new-yorks-shoreline-storied-river#commentsFri, 16 Oct 2009 12:42:37 -0400Mapping NYChttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/02/26/mapping-nyc
Matt Knutzen<p>We've updated the <a href="/locations/tid/36/175" rel="nofollow">Map Division's</a> Google Earth index to digitized NYC map collections to include more than 2000 maps from 32 titles, organized chronologically and geographically (by borough), all published between 1852 and 1923. The map index (<a href="/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/New_York_City_Fire_Insurance_Maps_0.kmz" rel="nofollow">download .kmz file</a>) requires installation of <a href="http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html" rel="nofollow">Google Earth</a> on your computer. There are three recommended ways to search for maps using this tool.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-center inline-center"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/shot_1.preview.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-preview" width="450" height="350" /></span></p>
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<p>1. Select a borough and vintage using the folders from the list on the left sidebar.</p>
<p>2. Double click the map to fly to your chosen location, then use the time slider at the top left of the map frame to narrow the chronological search scope.</p>
<p>3. Enter a street address in the "fly to" search box, then use the time slider. Once you've located a historical map coverage, scroll your mouse over the area and click. A popup window will allow you to access bibliographic information and a digital copy of the historical map.</p>
<p>Happy surfing. </p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/02/26/mapping-nyc#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2009 13:20:01 -0500Weeksville Revisitedhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/02/13/weeksville-revisited
Matt Knutzen<p>In a previous post, we looked at maps of Brooklyn from the 19th and early 20th centuries of the neighborhood once called Weeksville, centered on Hunterfly Road. It was there, in 1969, according to <a href="//www.weeksvillesociety.org/node/3" rel="nofollow">The Weeksville Society</a>, that researchers rediscovered the "Hunterfly Road houses," the neighborhood's only remaining residential structures from the period.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-none"><a title=" Bergen Street - Rochester Avenue, Digital ID 703234F, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?703234F"><img width="195" height="300" title=" Bergen Street - Rochester Avenue, Digital ID 703234F, New York Public Library" alt=" Bergen Street - Rochester Avenue, Digital ID 703234F, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=703234F&amp;t=w" /></a><span class="caption caption caption">Brooklyn: Bergen Street</span></span></p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-none"><img src="//www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/images/Weeksville_Houses_0.jpg" alt="" title="" class="image image image-_original" width="500" height="306" /></span></p>
<p>I'm curious to know if those same researchers used the <em><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?word=col_id%3A219&amp;sScope=images&amp;sLabel=Photographic%20Views%20of%20New%20York%20City%2C%201870s-1970s">Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s-1970s</a></em>, located in <a href="/locations/tid/36/node/7456" rel="nofollow">The Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy</a>, particularly the photograph below, shot by Percy Loomis Sperr in 1940, in their reports.</p>
<p>Take a look on Google Street view (click on image):</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-none"><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=embed&amp;hl=en&amp;q=Hunterfly+Pl,+Brooklyn,+Kings,+New+York+11233&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=51.177128,79.101563&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;cd=1&amp;geocode=FUq0bAId8_CX-w&amp;split=0&amp;t=h&amp;layer=c&amp;cbll=40.674773,-73.925759&amp;panoid=nd1lbkdzwlMfFlMJTIS" rel="nofollow"><img width="300" height="219" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" title="" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/images/Hunterflyplacegoogle.inline vertical.jpg" /></a></span></p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/02/13/weeksville-revisited#commentsFri, 13 Feb 2009 16:26:55 -0500Crystal Palace at Reservoir Squarehttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/01/03/crystal-palace-reservoir-square
Matt Knutzen<p>On today's map you wouldn't have a clue as to where the <em>Crystal Palace at <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?G91F189_016F">Reservoir Square</a></em> was located. Looking at a William Perris' fire insurance map from 1853 however reveals that, where now stands our magnificent <a href="/locations/schwarzman" rel="nofollow">central library</a> on the corner of <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=5th+ave+%26+42nd+st,+ny,+ny&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=50.644639,78.398437&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;z=16&amp;g=5th+ave+%26+42nd+st,+ny,+ny&amp;iwloc=addr" rel="nofollow">5th Avenue &amp; 42nd Street</a>, once stood the huge <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=croton+reservoir&amp;submit.x=0&amp;submit.y=0">Croton distributing reservoir</a>, gravity feeding the thirsty city from near the top of Murray Hill <em>and </em>a spectacular Crystal Palace, seen here as the large purple shape on the top left.</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1615985" title=" Map bounded by West 42nd Street, East 42nd Street, Fourth Avenue, East 37th Street, West 37th Street, Sixth Avenue.], Digital ID 1615985, New York Public Library"><img width="300" height="219" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1615985&amp;t=w" alt=" Map bounded by West 42nd Street, East 42nd Street, Fourth Avenue, East 37th Street, West 37th Street, Sixth Avenue.], Digital ID 1615985, New York Public Library" title=" Map bounded by West 42nd Street, East 42nd Street, Fourth Avenue, East 37th Street, West 37th Street, Sixth Avenue.], Digital ID 1615985, New York Public Library" /><br /></a></p>
<p>You can see both the reservoir and the Crystal Palace here.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-none"><img width="300" height="184" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" title="" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/images/crystal_palace.inline vertical.jpg" /></span></p>
<p>An even closer look reveals a handwritten note reading "50,000". This is a fire insurance map which probably means that the fire insurance policy taken out for the Crystal Palace was $50,000 or about $1.5 million in today's dollars.</p>
<p><span class="inline inline inline-none"><img width="300" height="184" class="image image image-inline image-inline vertical vertical" title="" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/images/crystal_palace_50k.inline vertical.jpg" /></span></p>
<p>That seems like a shockingly low price for such a spectacular building.</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?54948" title="New York Crystal Palace for the exhibition of the industry of all nations., Digital ID 54948, New York Public Library"><img width="300" height="300" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=54948&amp;t=w" alt="New York Crystal Palace for the exhibition of the industry of all nations., Digital ID 54948, New York Public Library" title="New York Crystal Palace for the exhibition of the industry of all nations., Digital ID 54948, New York Public Library" /><br /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?801379" title=" 801379. New York Public Library"><img src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=801379&amp;t=r" alt=" 801379. New York Public Library" title=" 801379. New York Public Library" /></a></p>
<p>Especially considering the fact that in 1858 it <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=new+york+crystal+palace+fire&amp;submit.x=0&amp;submit.y=0">burned </a>to the ground.</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?801378" title=" 801378. New York Public Library"><img src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=801378&amp;t=r" alt=" 801378. New York Public Library" title=" 801378. New York Public Library" /></a></p>
<p>The story goes that the morning after the fire, in typical New York City fashion, street hawkers were selling still warm pieces of the melted Crystal Palace.<img src="" alt="" /></p>Midtownhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2009/01/03/crystal-palace-reservoir-square#commentsSat, 03 Jan 2009 16:42:24 -0500Digitizing the Historical Landscapehttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/12/23/digitizing-historical-landscape
Matt Knutzen<p>We've digitized more historical maps documenting the changing New York City landscape. Follow the <a href="http://drupal02.nypl.org/blogs/2008/01/17/new-york-city-fire-insurance-atlases">link </a>to a comprehensive listing of close to 2,700 maps showing buildings, old streets, farm lines, streetcar routes historical shorelines and more.</p>
<p>Here's a small section from G.M. Hopkins' 1880 <a href="https://catalog.nypl.org/record=b14045345~S1"><em>Farm Line Atlas of Brooklyn</em></a>.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/hopkins_sample.jpg" alt="" /></p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/12/23/digitizing-historical-landscape#commentsTue, 23 Dec 2008 15:54:13 -0500Weeksvillehttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/12/17/weeksville
Matt Knutzen<div class="content">
<p>Weeksville was a community of African Americans founded in 1838 by a freed slave named James Weeks in an area straddling modern day Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights in Brooklyn. By the 1860s, according to<a href="http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/" class="ext ext" rel="nofollow"> Weeksville Society</a>, it had become a cultural nexus and a draft riot safe haven for New York City's growing African American population. While much has been written about its people, both today, as in this <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE3DD1538F936A35755C0A9639C8B63&amp;sec=&amp;spon=&amp;pagewanted=all" class="ext ext" rel="nofollow">NY Times article from 2005</a> and in the past, as in The Freedman's Torchlight, one of the first African American newspapers, not all that much geographic information remains about this historical landscape. There are traces that surface today, from the <a href="http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/node/56" class="ext ext" rel="nofollow">Hunterfly Road Houses</a> to <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/B093/" class="ext ext" rel="nofollow">Weeksville Park</a>, commemorating a landscape swallowed up by Brooklyn's street grid. One of the remaining pieces of the streetscape is <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=Hunterfly+Place,+Brooklyn,+NY&amp;mrt=all&amp;sll=37.0625,-95.677068&amp;sspn=49.57764,78.75&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=h&amp;z=14&amp;g=Hunterfly+Place,+Brooklyn,+NY&amp;iwloc=addr&amp;ll=40.686431,-73.924255&amp;source=embed" class="ext ext" rel="nofollow">Hunterfly Place.</a>
</p><p>This one block section of street was once part of the larger Hunterfly Road, the main thoroughfare of Weeksville that ran north to south from what is now Fulton Street to East New York Avenue. The following is a time series of maps of the area published between 1880 and 1908 from the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm">NYPL Digital Gallery</a> that document the physical changes to this community. These maps are part of the larger series of <a href="http://drupal02.nypl.org/blogs/2008/01/17/new-york-city-fire-insurance-atlases">property mapping</a> from the collections of <a href="/locations/schwarzman/map-division" rel="nofollow">The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division</a> here at the NYPL.</p>
<p><strong>Hopkins, G.M.<br /><em>Detailed estate and old farm line atlas of the city of Brooklyn </em><br />
1880</strong></p>
<p><a title=" 1627468. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1627468"><img title=" 1627468. New York Public Library" alt=" 1627468. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1627468&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1627476. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1627476"><img title=" 1627476. New York Public Library" alt=" 1627476. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1627476&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1627478. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1627478"><img title=" 1627478. New York Public Library" alt=" 1627478. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1627478&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1627479. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1627479"><img title=" 1627479. New York Public Library" alt=" 1627479. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1627479&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Bromley, George W.<br /><em>Atlas of the entire City of Brooklyn </em><br />
1880</strong></p>
<p><a title=" 1512340. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512340"><img title=" 1512340. New York Public Library" alt=" 1512340. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512340&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1512335. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512335"><img title=" 1512335. New York Public Library" alt=" 1512335. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512335&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Robinson, Elisha<br /><em>Robinson's atlas of the city of Brooklyn, New York</em><br />
1886</strong></p>
<p><a title=" 1512479. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512479"><img title=" 1512479. New York Public Library" alt=" 1512479. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512479&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1512477. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512477"><img title=" 1512477. New York Public Library" alt=" 1512477. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512477&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1512451. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512451"><img title=" 1512451. New York Public Library" alt=" 1512451. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512451&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1512454. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512454"><img title=" 1512454. New York Public Library" alt=" 1512454. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512454&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Hyde, E. Belcher<br /><em>Atlas of the Brooklyn borough of the City of New York</em><br />
1898-9</strong></p>
<p><a title=" 1517476. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517476"><img title=" 1517476. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517476. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1517476&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1517486. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517486"><img title=" 1517486. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517486. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1517486&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1517482. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517482"><img title=" 1517482. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517482. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1517482&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Bromley, George W. and Walter S.<br /><em>Atlas of the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York...</em><br />
1908</strong></p>
<p><a title=" 1517367. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517367"><img title=" 1517367. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517367. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1517367&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1517426. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517426"><img title=" 1517426. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517426. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1517426&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1517387. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517387"><img title=" 1517387. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517387. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1517387&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
<p><a title=" 1517382. New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517382"><img title=" 1517382. New York Public Library" alt=" 1517382. New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1517382&amp;t=r" /></a></p>
</div>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/12/17/weeksville#commentsWed, 17 Dec 2008 13:11:23 -0500County Atlaseshttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/06/17/county-atlases
Matt Knutzen<p><span class="inline inline inline-right inline-right"><a title="Tonawanda Falls [Village]; Byron Center [Village]; Harris Mills [Village], Digital ID 1584322, New York Public Library" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1584322"><img width="300" height="234" title="Tonawanda Falls [Village]; Byron Center [Village]; Harris Mills [Village], Digital ID 1584322, New York Public Library" alt="Tonawanda Falls [Village]; Byron Center [Village]; Harris Mills [Village], Digital ID 1584322, New York Public Library" src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1584322&amp;t=w" /></a></span>A popular collection in the NYPL's <a href="/locations/schwarzman/map-division" rel="nofollow">Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division</a>, and one of my personal favorites, is the county atlas series, most of which was published following the passage of a federal law commemorating the centennial of the United States. We have recently digitized 43 atlases covering New York and New Jersey from our collection of more than 420 titles printed before 1900. See <a href="http://www.nypl.org/node/80186">this page</a> for a list of digital holdings from this series.</p>
<p>Their pages are filled not only with wonderfully detailed maps on the national, state, county, township and city level, but also with interesting, flat perspective engravings depicting local business districts, prominent estates and farms. Business directories sometimes accompany the map pages that, along with the drawings, provide a glimpse into local social and economic geography of the 19th century. They also give us an idea of who provided funding for the production of these subscription based publications.</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1584650" title=" 1584650. New York Public Library"><img src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1584650&amp;t=r" alt=" 1584650. New York Public Library" title=" 1584650. New York Public Library" /></a></p>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/06/17/county-atlases#commentsTue, 17 Jun 2008 12:28:20 -0400Coney Island Mapshttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/06/14/coney-island-maps
Matt Knutzen<div class="content">
<p>I've always been fascinated with landscapes changing through time as seen though the lens of the map. Shorelines, especially where there are lots of waves and tides, are particularly interesting things in that they are so clearly dynamic. These fire insurance maps of Coney Island, created between 1880 and 1907 document those changes beautifully. In addition to those covering Coney Island, the NYPL has digitized close to <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blogs/subject/fire-insurance-atlases">2000 maps at this level of detail for all five boroughs of New York City</a>.</p>
<p>G.W. Bromley, <em>Atlas of the entire City of Brooklyn</em>, 1880, Plate 35</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1512337" title=" 1512337. New York Public Library"><img src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1512337&amp;t=r" alt=" 1512337. New York Public Library" title=" 1512337. New York Public Library" /></a>
</p><p>E. Robinson, <em>Robinson's atlas of Kings County, New York</em>, 1890, Plate 20</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1519736" title=" 1519736. New York Public Library"><img src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1519736&amp;t=r" alt=" 1519736. New York Public Library" title=" 1519736. New York Public Library" /></a></p>
<p>G.W. Bromley, <em>Atlas of the Borough of Brooklyn</em>, 1907, Plate 28</p>
<p><a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1517413" title=" 1517413. New York Public Library"><img src="https://images.nypl.org/?id=1517413&amp;t=r" alt=" 1517413. New York Public Library" title=" 1517413. New York Public Library" /></a></p>
</div>Maps, Atlases, Cartographyhttps://www.nypl.org/blog/2008/06/14/coney-island-maps#commentsSat, 14 Jun 2008 14:01:11 -0400